Thursday, May 7, 2015

LOOK Nail Color: LOOK Proud Collection

I was recently contacted by a new-to-me, 5-Free company called LOOK Nail Color, and asked to review a few of their polishes.

A little background info about the company from their website:

LOOK Nail Color is not just another brand – it’s an amazing Nail Color with a purpose….a “LOOK”!!Our formulas deliver the best coverage with a superior long-lasting performance.LOOK shades are formulated for nail art, with outstanding shine and brilliance, as well as, for those of you who just want COLOR.Our LOOK’s are simple and easy-to-do, making it possible for anyone to create them.

What I found the most unique about the brand is how they market their collections: Each collection is a different "look". For instance, they have one collection called LOOK Glitzy, which consists of gold, silver, and black polishes. Another is called Made You LOOK, and it has black, white, and turquoise polishes. So I enjoy how they incorporate the word "look" into their collection names!

The trio they sent me is called LOOK Proud. So let's see if these live up to their claim, shall we?

LOOK Proud has a red, a white, and a blue polish in the collection. Unfortunately the names are not listed on any of the bottles. They are on the info sheet I was sent along with them, but the names are really too long to memorize, especially considering the massive amount of polish I own. I used my label maker to stick the names on the bottles, so no big deal really, but I always prefer to have that information directly on the bottle label to begin with.

Now with that said, first up is the red. (Hehe. I'm a poet.)

Rocket's Red Glare

Formula: ««««« 5

Application: ««««« 5

Opacity: ««««¶ 4

Color: ««««« 5

Overall: ««««« 5

Rocket's Red Glare needed two coats for opacity. The polish seemed to stick to itself really well so I needed a slightly thicker second coat to keep it smooth, although my first coat was thin. It dried pretty quick - not Seche Vite fast, but faster than average.

It is a beautiful, cherry red. I wouldn't say that it is a true red, though very near it. It is almost more of a juicy, berry red that has a blue undertone, with a little bit of that squishy jelly polish look to it, though not as thick or sheer as a jelly. Some people hate this term and say it can't exist, but I think it is a perfect descriptor for this polish and will venture to call it a crelly formula.

Broad Stripes Bright Stars

Formula: ««««¶ 4

Application: ««««¶ 4

Opacity: ««««¶ 4

Color: ««««« 5

Overall: ««««¶ 4

Broad Stripes Bright Stars was surprisingly nice and fluid for a white polish, though it was the thickest of the three. They can tend to be troublesome and either milky or goopy, but I liked the formula of this one. It leaned a tad chalky (to be expected), but was still creamy. It is one of the better whites I have worked with - it reminded me a lot of the NYC French White or China Glaze White On White formulas. This has quickly become one of my go-to whites - one thick or two thin coats under nail art and water marbles, two to three otherwise.

With this polish, the first, thin coat dried fairy fast, and like the last polish, it needed a slightly thicker second coat to keep everything smooth. It dried with a nice shine of its own, too. It did bubble on me quite a bit, though, and I hadn't shaken the bottle to cause air bubbles in the polish (barely visible near the cuticle on my middle nail in the pictures).

Oh Say Can You See

Formula: ««««¶ 4

Application: ««««¶ 4

Opacity: ««¶¶¶ 2

Color: ««««« 5

Overall: «««¶¶ 3

Finally, Oh Say Can You See. This polish needed three medium-thickness coats, and it was another bubbler if I put them on too thick.

The other two polishes didn't dry dull by any means, but the blue did have the shiniest finish on its own; it is a jelly formula, so a high-gloss finish is to be expected.

I would have liked a better opacity, I prefer creme polishes, but the formula was nice for a jelly.

It isn't quite a primary blue, but a tad darker. Like a cross between a primary blue and a navy - very inky.

Overall, I was a fan. These polishes are $6.99 and only sold at select Walgreens stores, so they are on the more expensive side of drugstore polishes. Personally, I don't even like to buy OPI or Zoya unless I find them half-price, so there's that. I do like square bottles for polish, though. They make me feel like I am utilizing all the space on my polish rack opposed to a round bottle.

So while these aren't unique polishes when it comes to the colors, all three polishes seemed to self-level fairly well and had decently shiny finishes on their own without topcoat. Plus they are still pretty colors. The brushes were thin but very soft and flared out nicely, making the application easier. They weren't so thin that excess polish was dripping down the brush stems and flooding my cuticles, they didn't pool to the sides of my nails, but they weren't so thick they were unbearable.

It is hard to say which of the three is my favorite because they are all so different for me. I have used the white the most, but then I do a lot of nail art. I don't wear red often, but it had the best formula. I'm drawn to blue polishes, so I absolutely love the color of that one, but being a jelly, I turn away from it in favor of something more opaque unless I specifically want the jelly formula for whatever reason.

My final thoughts: I wasn't blown away by uniqueness, but there are many things I liked about the trio and colors, from the naming of the collections to the formulas; the colors themselves are just pretty Plain Jane, with an emphasis on the pretty.